China Halts Issue of Antimony, Tungsten Mine Licenses to Mid-2010

HONG KONG, July 29 -- China has suspended the issuing of new antimony and tungsten mining licenses until end-June 2010 in a bid to protect the country's reserves of the minerals, which have fallen in recent years due to excessive mining, a source at state-run metals information provider Beijing Antaike said Wednesday.

"The state's halting of mining licenses should control domestic antimony and tungsten mining activities this year and prevent a rapid fall in reserves," the Antaike source said. "However, we don't rule out the possibility that some smaller mines will open stealthily," he added.

Other industry insiders in China said demand for antimony and tungsten had slumped as a result of the global economic slowdown and suggested the suspension was more a bid to shore up prices.

Ganzhou Tungsten Industry Association set a domestic guide price for tungsten concentrate at Yuan 63,000/mt ($9,222/mt) for July, below the average in 2008 of Yuan 83,400/mt.

China in May capped domestic antimony concentrate and tungsten concentrate output for 2009 at 90,180 mt and 68,555 mt, respectively, to control the mining of strategic metal resources.

In 2008, China produced 84,470 mt tungsten concentrate, up 5% from 2007, China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association data showed. But domestic tungsten concentrate consumption totaled only 50,500 mt in 2008, according to the China Tungsten Industry Association.

China produced 49,339 mt of tungsten concentrate during the first half of this year, up 32.86% year on year, CNIA figures showed. Antimony concentrate output data for 2008 and H1 2009 figure was unavailable.